Port of Montreal could reopen Saturday

Port of Montreal could reopen Saturday    The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) in the Port of Montreal said it had agreed to end a five-day lockout of longshoremen on Saturday morning.
   The employers and representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) met for 10 hours with a mediator on Thursday and reached an agreement to reopen the Port of Montreal at 8 a.m. Saturday.
   This agreement is subject to the approval by union members at a meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday.
   The MEA said employers and the union have agreed to end respective pressure tactics and return to the negotiation table.
   About 900 Port of Montreal longshoremen, members of CUPE Local 375, have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2008.
   The employers said union members were using pressure tactics such as slowdowns and refusing to work overtime. The union said the slowdown was a response to employers who had “targeted 169 longshoremen with the least seniority, changing their working conditions and depriving dozens of young families of income and stability.”
   Since the slowdown began, steamship carriers such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have said they have diverted ships to Halifax and New York. ' Chris Dupin